Erie Orchards and Cider Mills

On our second day in Michigan we headed up to Erie Orchards and Cider Mill, and oh how I wished I had my "Little Apple Orchard" quilt with me to take some pictures.  Erie Orchards is a sweet place with a main building that has a bit of a general store feel, full of homemade donuts (YUM!!!!), fudge, caramel apples, apple cider, you name your favorite fall dessert item...they had it.  FRESH!  Oh my goodness.  I could have taken every bit home with us.

So, we did a little shopping and then headed out with our apple picking bags into the orchard.

They had many varieties available, most of which I had never heard of, so a bit of tasting was in order before deciding on which ones to take with us.

Lorelai says the apple orchard was her favorite part of the trip.

 I was shocked that even Gabriel tasted them.  He usually hates apple skins.

 Cherlyn let the kids and I ride around in the back of the truck which was a lot of fun.

 They also had a pumpkin patch out there.  Most of the fields had been picked over pretty well for the fancy set up at the pumpkin barn, but it was fun to look at them out in their "natural" habitat.

 Some of those pumpkins were HUGE!!!

 While the leaves weren't turning in full force yet, there were still a few gorgeous trees, and this one was by far the best of all.  Little leaves were flittering down from it and the kids had a good time attempting to catch them.

 This tree just made my heart so happy, and the fun the kids were having with it.  Oh, I miss this!  We have a decent fall here, but since we don't have any mature trees in our neighborhood we don't really get to experience this each and every day of fall.

 Lorelai and Gabriel collected leaves for Grandma and me.

 I love how the light is filtering through the leaves in this one...

 Of course they had the typical pumpkin patch activities as well...

 The kids picked out 4 little pumpkins to take back and decorate.

 If you're ever in that area I highly recommend it.  We were able to watch them use the cider press and taste their homemade cider.  Delicious!  And in the summer they have blueberry picking.  Doesn't that sound fun?